An inkjet recording apparatus includes a head which has a plurality of liquid discharge holes formed on a nozzle surface provided at a lower surface and discharges ink to a recording medium e.g. a sheet, thereby performing printing. The inkjet recording apparatus includes a cap which, when not performing an image forming operation, seals the nozzle surface from a lower side to thus prevent a contact with an atmosphere, thereby preventing the ink in the liquid discharge holes from being dried.
When the ink is attached to the nozzle surface and the cap, it is desired to remove the attached ink. A known inkjet recording apparatus performs a wiping operation of wiping off the ink remaining on the nozzle surface and an upper surface of the cap. Specifically, this apparatus includes a wiper unit which slides horizontally in a conveyance direction of a recording medium between the nozzle surface and the cap, and the wiper unit includes a first upper blade which slides on the nozzle surface and a second lower blade which slides on the upper surface of the cap. During the wiping operation, the first blade contacts the nozzle surface and the second blade contacts the upper surface of the cap, thereby wiping off the ink remaining on the nozzle surface and the upper surface of the cap at one time.